Who’s Who in the Legion of Super-Heroes – Issues #1 and #2

January 22, 2017

We ride a Time Bubble to the 30th century for this next exciting era of WHO’S WHO with WHO’S WHO IN THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES! Shag welcomes the Legion of Super Bloggers with Little Russell Burbage, Dr Anj, and Kyle Benning! This episode we cover issues #1 & #2 of this 7 issue series! We look at characters like: Cosmic Boy, Brainiac 5, Bouncing Boy, Dawnstar, Dream Girl, Element Lad, Darkseid, the Fatal Five, and more!

Our fantastic opening theme is by Daniel Adams and Ashton Burge with their band The Bad Mamma Jammas! http://www.facebook.com/BadMammaJammas Closing music from the Legion of Super Heroes animated TV series.

Nice spin by Lightle on his complete inability to meet deadlines. At the old Marvel, his nickname would have been “Slowpoke”, until he was fired.

Antennae Boy was a newscaster 5YL. “Three eyed Sam from Planet Wham!”

Am I still the only one who thought Atmos was supposed to be a 30th century Captain Atom?

Ty getting his Gil Kane on for the Chemoids.

One thing I liked about Levitz’s run is that he kept the membership groups together. The people you joined with were the people you hung out with.

Computo needed a surprint of his original form. Still better than his Validus hybrid form. Brainiac 5 was really clueless when it came to his teammates’ feelings.

George Perez really likes drawing women with wings, is why she ended up in Crisis.

Evillo and Sugyn appeared in the Matter Eater Lad stories of 5YL.

There’s a big error in the Dr. Gym’ll entry, as the Jaquaani only have three arms. Only Giffen remembered that.

#2
Concentric circles? You mean a Boom Tube?
The DC Indexes were published by “Independent Comics Group”, which was really Eclipse Comics.

I had a subscription to the Legion way back when, and the first issue I got was the Mayavale one.

A 20th century Dr. Regulus would have been a good fit for a Firestorm villain.

Dream Girl: You can see the Perez touches in the metal of her outfit. Not to forget she figured out how to mentally manipulate the anti-gravity energies of the flight ring. Anyone know when she added the star-shaped beauty mark?

The Engineer’s World is the Shore Leave episode from Star Trek.

Empress: Was any explanation given for the Eye’s weakness to Kryptonite? It mentions a possible connection to the Oans, but rather than a Green Lantern, the Starheart would have been a better choice.

Mano was once or twice shown shooting energy beams from his hand-disc

Flynt Brojj was based on real-life Legion fans Mike Flynn and Harry Broertjes, creators of the fanzine Legion Outpost.

Golden Boy and Crystal Kid have the same powers.

Douglas Nolan was rumored to be the basis for the X-Men’s Colossus.

Hagga looks like the Old Witch from EC Comics.

I love you Xum! Anti-Lad was the star of my very first Legion issue, and I always wanted to see him return, possibly battling DC’s other far future character, Abra Kadabra.

I know. I know. I was kicking myself all through editing. I meant to say, “acronym L.E.G.I.O.N.”, but it came out “Advective-less Legion”. There is only so much that can be held in this beautiful head of mine.

Guys, now this episode surpassed my expectations! Loved it!
Russell B is a national treasure! So much LSH knowledge. He actually made guys like Atomo
Sound interesting.
Dr Anj and Kyle provided a good deal of their own stuff — well done, guys! You too, Shag!

My questions:
WhAt happened to the Green Lanterns? I seem to remember Kyle Rayner bringing someone a ring (a distant ancestor?) in the post-Zero Hour 30th century. It had been ages since the corps was around.

Just how does the Subsitute Legion work? If there’s a legion of these guys, I’m guessing not all of them are on missions at all times, so are there benched guys? When does a sub get called to replace a legion member? Does an Academy grad get subbed and hope a spot opens up?

Finally, are the girls you’re talking about as “hot” depicted as teens? Have you four become the creepy middle-aged guy leering at passing teenage girls from a mall food court?

I don’t think we rightly know what happened to the Corps though there were a few rings bouncing around. Universo was a GL and went bad; Rond Vidar was the lone GL in the era the Who’s Who came out. More recent continuity explained that Mogo died and there was no way to distribute the rings anymore, but that’s a retcon. Maybe a GL expert knows more?

The Subs started out as an unofficial group, but eventually achieved reserve status. They could be called in during times of great Crisis or just to babysit Metropolis if the real Legion was away on a mission. They don’t actually “sub” for actual Legionnaires. Cadets, for their part, are not guaranteed a spot on the team and must try out like everyone else; the Academy helps them hone their powers, which is a help, but most of them have no illusions about their eligibility since they have redundant power sets. Anyway, we’ll talk more about all this in the next episode!

I have no answer for your last query except to say all versions considered hot are of adult Legionnaires. The kids had grown up sufficiently by the mid-70s (the revealing disco costumes) for them not to be jailbait anymore. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

By the way, the name of that obscure alien race from Transformers: The Movie, is “Lithone.” Not “Lethal” or anything similar (although at this point I confess my ignorance of the Legion and the possibility that simply couldn’t understand who/what you were talking about. It just sounded off). At one point early in the movie’s production, they were apparently supposed to be creatures of living rock (like GoBot Rock Lords? Probably not). That was changed early on, but the name stuck.

I did it! I did it! I made it through this whole episode! Where’s my flight ring?

All seriousness aside, nice job Shag, Russell, Kyle, and Anj–you did your best to keep this non-Legion fan interested across this show’s Berlin Alexanderplatz-esque running time. You didn’t always succeed, but what can you do with characters like Absorbine Jr or Bojack Horseman (whatever those character’s names were)?

This is will be only 1 of 3 WW podcasts I will get to comment on from the outside, so I can say without any immodesty this show is a big accomplishment and a fine companion to the series. Trying to edit around Kyle’s potty mouth and Anj’s constant promotion of Scientology had to be quite difficult, but you did it Shag!

If I had edited this comic series, Arm Fall Off Boy would have gotten three pages at least.

Speaking of Potty-Mouths, on the around 150ish episodes or so on my podcast feed, I believe there have been a total of 4 swear words that made it into finished episodes….and Rob managed to drop 2 of the 4 in a single episode. Potty Mouth Kelly.

The restraint it takes for me to resist dropping f bombs on my own show is non-existent when I make guest spots 😛 that said Dr. Anj being a doctor and all made me a little less crude than I normally am. He sets the bar high.

I believe the formation of the network itself led to an increase in cursing across all shows because of the existence of Lonely Hearts and oHOTmu or NOT. Seemed like all of a sudden, I was hearing soft swears on Film and Water, Who’s Who, etc.

It took me a long time to “get” the Legion. To be fair I mainly bought the Superman books for the first seven or so years of my collecting life and he and the Legion were barely on speaking terms during that time so I did not come of age during a time when they were besties. Oddly enough the issues of Superman that made me start picking them up were the whole Pocket Universe four parter. If I had access to the Legion issues of that crossover when I read the Superman books things might have been different but I didn’t and it would be ten years before I got the read the rest of the stories. It was finding the Five Years Later era in the cheap bins in the late ’90s that changed things. I read that entire run up to Zero Hour (with a funny story associated with the issue where the Earth finally died) and just loved it. That inspired me to get the Baxter series out of the self same cheap bins and I loved those books as well. I’ve even collected the team from time to time. I enjoyed the series that spun out of LEGION LOST back in the early 2000’s and I whole heartedly agree with Anj that the Supergirl and the Legion issues that came out after INFINITE CRISIS were AMAZING.

I may not be an expert but I like the team.

I was blown away by this episode. Russell, Kyle and Anj all brought their A games to the commentary and history and Shag was an able ring leader. It was funny and informative and I got to learn about eras of the team that I was completely unaware of. Thanks to everyone for giving us four amazing hours of entertainment and I can’t wait for the next episode.

Weird coincidence; I picked up the Deluxe Hardcover of The Great Darkness Saga last week. I now have motivation to read it sooner than later. I realized while listening to this that it features a mash-up of the two main Superman spin-offs so it’s more in my wheelhouse than I thought it was.

Fantastic episode, Shag and Company! Russell, Kyle, and Anj brought tons of Legion knowledge and just as much humor and fun to the episode. Yes, it was a long show, but it never felt boring to this listener.

It took me a while to get the Legion. Even after reading the whole Threeboot era and samplings of other eras, I just couldn’t get into the concept or the characters. But the Secret Origins Podcast (winner of Professor Alan’s prestigious Off Into The Sunset Award for podcast that concluded in 2016) forced me to read more and when I got to “The Great Darkness Saga” I fell hard for the Legion. But like Shag, I’m currently stalled in “The Curse” collection, though making steady, almost monthly, progress.

A few notes on some of this episode’s entries:

1. LOVE the Steve Lightle art on the scans you provided! Glorious!

2. Bouncing Boy: My favorite regular Legionnaire. Not sure why, or what it says about me, but my favorite male members of the Legion as well as the X-Men are the characters that DON’T look like beautiful leading man-types. Bouncing Boy. Chameleon Boy. Ferro Lad. Nightcrawler. Beast. These guys appeal to me more than the Ultra-Boys, the Mon-Els, the Lightning Lads.

3. Cosmic Boy: My favorite of the founding members, but I couldn’t tell you why. I know many fans like Lightning Lad–and I know Garth has a ton of family baggage and stories spotlighting that–but I feel like I haven’t read those stories yet. Maybe I just haven’t been exposed to the big Lightning Lad stories yet, but for whatever reason I’m Team Cosmic Boy (and pink costume at that).

4. Darkseid: Not a fan of the art on this page. I think it’s the positioning of the legs and the right boot in profile.

5. Dream Girl: What a gorgeous entry! So good-looking, and guess what? Dream Girl is my favorite female member of the Legion, and the “hottest” in my opinion.

6. Fatal Five: I LOVE Emerald Empress. Sexy green costume and a giant floating eye that shoots green energy blasts at people? What’s not to love about that! I’m glad Kyle compared her to Marvel’s Enchantress because the Persuader reminds me of the Executioner. Speaking of which, why isn’t Persuader related to Ferro Lad; their costumes look the same!!!

Wow folks, thanks for all of the kind words! I was honored to to be a part of it, sorry the audio is so shitty on my end. Skype kept dropping me so Shaggie D had to resort to just straight up calling my cell phone through skype so that we could keep up the connection more than 5 minutes.

Dr. Anj & Russell were amazing, is there room in the F&W feed for a show from these 2 guys on their very own Legion show on the network?! Just saying these two are too good to simply make guest appearances, they should both quit their jobs and become full time Podcasters (more like PodcaSTARS!!)

Rob seriously though, I hope you and Shag do a double size episode of the DigestCast and cover a Legion digest and a Transformers Digest….it’d be the greatest episode ever!

Written by Mark Waid (DAREDEVIL), Tom Peyer, and Tom McCraw, this classic series is finally re-collected in this new graphic novel series. Collects LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #0 and #62-68 and LEGIONNAIRES #0 and #19-24

AWESOME new theme song! Those guys are awesome. Makes me wish DC had done more Who’s Who side-series.

Okay, let’s just do this one issue at a time, shall we? I won’t bore you with my Legion origin story, since I’ll no doubt talk about it on an upcoming episode directly, but let it be said that hearing yours SPARKED something I’d forgotten, so make sure to ask me about it Shagg. Now for some thoughts about some of the entries…

Antennae Boy (sometimes Lad) joined the Subs in DC Comics Presents #59 along with other new doofy members, so I don’t get why he isn’t included with that group in issue 3.

Chemical King’s homosexuality was never shown or discussed on-panel, but DC did throw the fans a bone (not sure about my choice of words, sorry) by including a note about it in the DC Encyclopedia. Shamefully, there’s no mention of his douchy space car, essentially a flying convertible/XXXX magnet he was extremely proud of. It inspired Hot or Not’s Art-Girl to do some fan art: http://legionofsuperbloggers.blogspot.ca/2015/11/chemical-king-hot-or-not.html

I hate Comet Queen too, and have hated her ever since my very first issue of LSH. It’s a wonder I came back for more!

Cosmic Boy has the dubious honor of having been the first Hot or Not target, and because of that, got DESTROYED by the girls. They’ve since mellowed on him, and he became an early favorite of Shotgun’s when we started doing the Reboot reviews together.

For Legion history fans, between the end of the Magic Wars and the start of the 5YL series, a NUMBER of morts became Legionnaires under Polar Boy’s desperate leadership, in his attempt to keep the team together when things went pear-shaped. Characters in this book who were Legionnaires during the Gap era include: Atmos, Calamity King, and Crystal Kid.

Man, Russell made me feel inadequate… Now I need to read every issue featuring the characters in the book I’m supposed to help cover.

I’m a passing Legion fan. I know quite a bit of the history, I bought the book off and on during my younger days, and followed the Legionnaires series when it launched. I even bought the first issue of Who’s Who in the Legion, but honestly, the format put me off at the time. I’m with Kyle, it reminded me a LOT of OHOTMU, and I felt like someone put their Marvel Chocolate in my DC (Superman?) Peanut Butter. There was also a bit of those DC Indexes (published by an arm of Eclipse Comics, oddly) and even Marvel Saga mixed in, it seems. I didn’t get back to a comic shop to get the other issues, unfortunately.

Having said all that, this was a helluva lot of fun! Russell, Kyle and Dr. Anj all brought the goods, and some great insight into the characters, the history, the legend, if you will, of the Legion. I feel like I am a lot more versed in Legion lore now, and we still have five issues to go!

Dawnstar or Dream Girl for hottest Legionnaire. PG is also hot, but they are enfeugo.

Who knew that mixing Ron Frenz with Colleen Doran = Jerry Ordway? Look at that Element Lad image and tell me that doesn’t look like Ordway!

I remember the Legion symbols being featured on that great spread in The History of the DC Universe. Perez did a much cleaner version of the logos than what we see here.

Looking forward to another marathon episode next month! I follow the Legion of Super Bloggers every day, so I don’t mind THEIR chocolate being in the F&W peanut butter one bit! Bring it on!

Shagg really needs to get over his dislike of the Dominators on “Supergirl”. Last night’s episode had some really exciting Legion links, including a Dominator appearance that was a real stunner! Also… maybe an appearance by the Dark Circle!

Characters in this book who were Legionnaires during the Gap era include: None.

The Fatal Five were a big part of the last LSH story line we got before the New52 cancelled the book like so many others. (Are we going to refer to the New52 implosion at some point?) By this point, Tharok was bio-mechanically split the other way, with a machine bottom and a human top, although he was actually all-tech, like a genie in a bottle, in fact exactly like Djinn and Ifrit from the Jihad.

Fenton Pike, the Iron Man of 2020.

Xum’s stuff is keen as always, and makes you wish the Legion Who’s Who followed the traditional layout. Heck, just having art credits you don’t have to flip back to would help!

And yes, we will talk more about the Constitution in the next episode, and I’m glad to see in these comments and those under this week’s Hero Points that I’m not the only charter nerd in our circle. Not a reference to the Dark Circle. Maybe we should call ourselves the Chart Circle.

Having grown up on Byrne’s Superman, I don’t require Superboy to be part of the mythos, either. Despite Superman #8 being one of my first comics, I got into Legion *way* late. Like 20 years late. It was a huge, inexcusable blindspot in my Giffen obsession. I dove into 5YL, didn’t get it, dove deeper into the Levitz material as a sort of homework, and then it just… clicked. I’ve loved 5YL since. (I should’ve made a scorecard, too.)

Doctor Mayavale! Steve Ditko drew a scattered batch of LoSH issues, which featured his rare version of Superboy (he only drew Superman, Batman, and GL once, actually, and never any other major DC star). Ditko’s run included Mayavale’s first appearance, a co-creation with DeMatteis, I assume. Hey, at least we got a cool George Pérez cover out of it.

Great episode. Dawnstar. The Legion is my 2nd favorite team. Dawnstar. I would sneak the Legion/Adventure digests into grade school and try to read them during class. Dawnstar. I would have loved to see more of a connection between the post crisis JSA and the Legion since I am a continuity freak. Dawnstar. Great job by all the hosts. Dawnstar. I always wondered if Atmos uses underarm deodorant. Dawnstar. Can’t wait for the next episode. Dawnstar. Long live the Legion. Dawnstar.

I’m not quite through the show yet, but so much on which to comment – nice job, all!

It doesn’t matter how Russell’s friend pronounces her name – Charma is not a real name either way; we’re talking a woman who charms men, it can’t be pronounced as anything but ‘Charmer’

Great point about demon possession in the Legion beating the Exorcist by years. There was also a Demon possession story with Supergirl in Action Comics around the same time… Anj has probably mentioned the Satan Ring already.

As regards Russell’s comment on Captain Frake having non-matching breasts, this very network’s Hot or Not girls say women’s boobs are often not the same size. I can’t say I’ve given the matter any thought.

If Colossal Boy was DC’s first Jewish superhero, as of 1980, but who was the second? Fellow size-changer Ray Palmer mentioned being Jewish in 1981, was there anyone in between?

Crystal kid is the Legion person I would most like to see in live action – his costume has a bit of the original Firebrand Rod Riley about it, it’s rather… distracting.

Command Kid is totally a drag queen (that could be his LSV name).

I liked Iris Jacobs, but she never had a chance, she could only ever be Val’s fill-in girlfriend – and how unfair that she was drawn bespectacled and mousey.

I’m a big fan of Ty Templeton but don’t like that Bouncing Boy at all, the facial expression is weird, and the legs sticking out are way too Modok… his legs were always flat under him, not dangling.

Regarding Russell’s comment on the Legion needing more than one doctor… one doctor for 30 people is amazing. In the UK we have one GP for thousands of people. And anyway, Dr Gym’ll did have other, regular patients. I like the idea of the Legion having Dr Zan Orbal for superpowered business, and Gym’ll for the more mundane stuff.

I went back to S/LSH #253 and #254 to check my memory wasn’t wrong every time Shag said that in his debut, Blok looked like an Easter Island statue. I think that must be Easter Island, Texas hahahahahaha OK, I admit it, given that awful art job by Joe Staton and Frank Chiaramonte, who can say WHAT he looked like. My fave Blok look was the one with the little volcanoes sprouting from him. (It’s weird re-reading that first appearance – I can excuse Silver Slasher calling Blok ‘cousin’ if you look at it as similar to how all Amazons call one another ‘sister’, but she says ‘Blok’ is his new name and that the Legion made him a ‘hideous monster’. And the following issue says they all came from the planet Korlon… probably it was all sorted out later, and I’ve forgotten. And at least #254 had a great save by the Subs.)

That split purple/orange costume on Duo Damsel was for introduced for a special mission, in which Luornu infiltrates two sides of one conflict, so it made sense – after that, good looking as it is, it makes no sense for someone who specialised in espionage missions, as the costume instantly identifies that there are two of her.

Well, if nothing else, this episode convinced me of one thing: I am not nearly strong enough on my Legion lore! I love the LSH, but the trivial knowledge y’all have (especially Russell Burbage) is awe inspiring. Actually, I learned two things. I also learned that I have a steel bladder, as I was able to get through the whole episode without a potty break.

I really miss the surprint and other qualities that would make this a real issue of Who’s Who, but overall, I thouroughly enjoyed this issue. Between this and Rob’s efforts the last few months, I’ve basically decided that I’m going to have to spend my summer off reading Legion comics and watching Star Trek. Alright, a few selected comments on issues one and two.

1. Animal Lad may be my new favorite character! Not only does he have cool, silver-agey powers, but he is described as having “innate incorruptibility”. I’m very sad that he never returned, as it seems like he would make a great Legionaire.

2. I’m sure this will earn me some ribbing, but I would argue that Atmos would be a perfectly serviceable character if he didn’t have the bizarre deformity of the missing parts of his body. He had a good look (minus the 80’s Mohawk), and a strong power set. Yes, we can live without the less savory parts of his story, but the character himself had potential.

3. Fine, I’ll admit it. I just want more of all of the failed Legion applicants. Calamity King has a cool look.

4 I have never read a single issue with Chemical King in it. He is a blank spot to me. I think I always conflate him with Nemesis Kid (or one of the 15 other villains that tried to join the LSH). Finding out he actually was a member in good standing was a surprise to me. His story is interesting, though.

5. For no good reason, Colossal Boy is my favorite Legionaire, although I will admit that no one has ever done much to flesh out his character properly.

6. The outfit leaves much to be desired, but Command Kid’s origin is fascinating. The odd little subgenre of supernatural sci-fi is criminally underused in comics.

7. The Dark Circle is another concept I haven’t been properly exposed to, but y’alls description makes it sound like something I’d really enjoy. Again, my summer is now full.

9. You are all crazy! Temporary or not, Dev-Em’s Titan family moved to earth where son wishes himself into a Kryptonian origin is everything! He is up there with Animal Lad as my new favorite character.

Whoo! Am I only half way through this episode?

10. I had next to no interest in Dr. Mayavale, but if he is drawing comparisons to not only Terry Long, but Jericho himself, I will resolve to read all I can of his adventures!

11. I get why you all fawned over the Dream Girl entry, but I’m still hung up on the anatomy of that pose. Even when I was a teenager, I questioned how possible it would be to cross your legs life that. Now in my 40’s, I’m convinced no one other than a circus freak could contort their body that way. Still, it’s a fine drawing.

12. Dynamo Boy using constitutional loopholes to expel the rest of the Legion also sounds like a must read story! I miss the cleverness (and innocence) of the Silver Age.

13. I don’t particularly care about the sexual orientation of characters as long as they aren’t randomly changed for no reason other than PC inclusion, ( ahem, Alex Danvers, I’m looking at you) but Element Lad’s “outing” always bothered me. It all starts with a one panel joke where Jan says, “I’m out of my . . . element . .. when it comes to romancing girls”. Boom, definitive proof that Element Lad is in to guys, right? Anyway, the canon has been set now, but it will always bug me that it is built on such a shaky foundation.

14. Am I wrong, or was Eyeful Ethel in the Legion of Substitute Heroes? I seem to remember she figured prominently in the Special that came out.

15. Golden Boy is another one of those guys that I want to read more about.

16. Others have said it, but Hagga is a pretty blatant copy of one of the horror hosts from EC comics.

I am far more excited about going through the Legion constitution than I ought to be!

Alright, not sure if you are planning on continuing to have four hour marathon sessions over multiple issues or not, but I’m with you until the end. Long live the Legion!

This was my first Who’s Who podcast, and I really enjoyed it. I will have to go back and listen to the rest.

I had a pretty winding road to the Legion. The first issue I ever bought was the final issue of Earthwar, right off the stands at the tender age of 7. I read spotty issues throughout the bronze age, including that digest of SA stories. I liked the idea of the LSH, but somehow just never became a regular reader. 5YL made me a full-fledged fan, exploring the team’s entire history. So I guess I’m neither fish nor fowl when it comes to classic Legion vs. 5YL Legion.

Shag, since you’re a big 5YL fan, Hero Points is going to cover the Legion 5YL sourcebook since it was written by the Bierbaums and includes a lot of information about the gap years that never appeared anywhere else, right?

Great job, Shagg and the Legion of Super Bloggers. Was entertained throughout the entire show. I started reading Legion from the Reboot era and have all the Showcase volumes but the period between the last of the Showcase volumes and the Reboot is new territory to me (apart from the Great Darkness Saga). I have found the Levitz/Giffen stuff online and am making my way through it and really enjoying it. Look forward to the next marathon session of Legion Who’s Who.

My foray into the Legion of Superheroes didn’t start until the early nineties and wasn’t collecting them regularly until just before Zero Hour. Talk about confused! But I loved the post Zero Hour Legion. I hung on until around Legion Lost, came back for a bit when Superboy was involved, then came back for the threeboot,lost track for a while then came back when Supergirl joined. Things get hazy after that with the Legion story in Action and then Legion of three worlds. Made my head spin. So it’s great listening to all these entries from the early years until just after the Crisis. It’s Legion 101! I love it! Thanks fellas!

I came to the Legion from the other side of the tracks in the mid-00s. I was reading Fantastic Four at the time, and was a big fan of Mister Fantastic. I went looking for an analogous super genius-type character in the DC universe, and found two that caught my eye: 1) Mr. Terrific over in JSA, and 2) Brainiac 5 in the Legion.

On the Legion front, I picked up the first two trade paperbacks I could find, Legion of Super-Heroes: The Beginning of Tomorrow and Legion: Foundations. So, my experience with the Legion is primarily with the Post-Zero Hour team. I’m looking forward to learning about that and other eras of Legion history in future episodes.

This almost beat me. I mean, this series, as you can tell from some of the G-list villains that are in the gallery, was nothing if not comprehensive. And whenever I thought I’d come up with someone I thought again ‘Wait, they have a Legion of Super-Villains affliation and so will show up then.’

But I finally came up with the Omission of the Month for this: Composite Superman (II), not listed there or under Amalgamax or in #7 as Xan. (characters with dubious at-the-time continuity status will probably feature heavily in omissions, to be honest. I mean, a book that’s putting Captain Frakes in isn’t going to be missing much.)

I suspect that the truly minor characters show up because they have holes in one of their multi-entry pages. I suspect some of them are there because “we need another character no matter how minor who falls between these two major ones in the alphabet to fill this blank space.”

How did Gym’ll miss that there were 2 children? They actually addressed that. An ultrasound was never done because the parents didn’t want to spoil the surprise. And we readers never suspected a thing. I remember coming over this bit in re-reading that I completely missed.

And yes, MANY reader’s minds were blown with the revelation of Validus’ parentage.